


Last Minute Shopping

by drizzletomyhurricane (orphan_account)



Series: The most wonderful time of the year [2]
Category: Degrassi: Next Class
Genre: Aunt-Niece Relationship, Christmas, Christmas Shopping, F/F, F/M, Fluff, Gen, Hope loves Christmas and green sweaters, Mola and Fresme fluff, Sibling Bonding, Toddler hope, hope hollingsworth, miles can’t shop, when your entire family waits til the last minute to Christmas shop
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-12-26
Updated: 2018-12-26
Packaged: 2019-09-27 13:26:31
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 892
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17162792
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/drizzletomyhurricane
Summary: It’s almost Christmas and Miles and Frankie have procrastinated on their gift-buying yet again. Part of a canon-divergent universe in which Lola kept the baby, Mola is together, and Fresme is also dating.





	Last Minute Shopping

“I can’t believe you waited til the last minute to shop!”

“I can’t believe you waited til the last minute!”

It was the evening of December 23rd and Miles and Frankie were out finishing last minute Christmas shopping at the mall with Hope. Miles had procrastinated on Lola’s present and Frankie had procrastinated on Esme’s. Maybe genetics were to blame, they reasoned. Then again though, Mrs. Hollingsworth had finished all of her shopping and decorated the tree well before December.

“Auntie Franks, what’d ya get me?” Hope said. The two-and-a-half-year-old smiled angellically from the shopping cart, clinging to her stuffed teddy bear as Frankie pushed her along.

“Hope,” Miles scolded her. “That’s not polite.”

Frankie ignored her brother, smiling back at the toddler. “Well, just wait two more days and you’ll see how much Auntie spoiled you!”

“Two days?” Hope said. “That’s forevvver!”

Miles reached for a salmon sweater in front of them. “What about this for Lola?” he asked Frankie.

Frankie made a face. “Not a chance, brother.” Thank god Frankie was here to give Miles fashion advice. What was it with him and salmon-colored clothing, anyway? It remained a mystery to Frankie how Miles had managed to sweep Lola off her feet in that wardrobe of his.

“Fine,” Miles muttered. “Uh... what about... these?” He held up a pair of patterned leggings.

“No,” Frankie said.

“This?”

“Noooo.”

“Well, what about—”

“Are you trying to get dumped?”

Miles had finally had enough. He threw the pile of clothes he was holding to the ground, fed up. The fact that Jingle Bell Rock was stuck playing on repeat didn’t help much either. “Forget it, then! There’s no use trying because I’m crap at shopping and obviously nothing is good enough for Lola!”

“Daddy?” Hope piped up from the shopping cart.

“What is it, Hope?” Miles sighed. He didn’t mean to be a grinch, but he was just ready to have all of this holiday stuff over with already. He and Lola had been wrapping presents, baking cookies, and decorating for what felt like years now. Besides, Christmastime — or any holiday really — always kind of reminded him of his father. Miles always felt like he needed to go above and beyond to make Christmas extra nice for the twins and his mom to make up for their father’s absence.

“What about dat?” Hope said. She pointed to a pair of gold heart earrings— engraved on each of them was the word hope. Hope couldn’t even recognize her own name spelled out like that— she was way too little for that— but somehow she just knew how to spot the perfect jewelry.

Miles’ expression finally eased up. “That’s... kinda perfect...” He grinned, picking up the earrings and showing them to Frankie.

Frankie smiled at Hope. “Well,” she said to Miles, “good thing she got Lola’s shopping genes.” She fumbled through the earrings rack. “Now, Esme on the other hand... she’s gonna be harder to shop for. She already has like, every piece of clothing and jewelry out there.”

“You could always get her a pill cutter,” Miles said.

“Miles!” Frankie slugged him.

“Kidding! Geez...” It hadn’t exactly been smooth sailing, but he and Esme had managed to start somewhat getting along again, even after the whole pills fiasco back in junior year. He’d been vehemently against Frankie and Esme in the beginning, but after awhile they actually seemed... good for each other. Like they mellowed each other out, in a way. Besides, Esme was doing a lot better now that she was in therapy. Even Lola had warmed up to Esme, designating her as her new shopping buddy.

Frankie just rolled her eyes. “Not funny.” She picked through all the sweater colors. “Hmm... teal... patterned... navy...”

“I like the green!” Hope squealed, reaching for one.

“Doesn’t she wear like, $200 skirts?” Miles said.

“Yeah. Designer, usually,” Frankie muttered. “Ooh! These shades are nice—”

Suddenly, there was a sound of familiar laughter in the distance. Miles and Frankie glanced at each other. “Wait,” Miles said, peering over the crowd.

Frankie glanced around. “Is that—”

“MOMMY!” Hope shouted.

Frankie and Miles turned around and saw Lola and Esme with a cart full of navy polos, salmon pants, a stuffed toy goat, and a tote bag that read “Princess.”

“What are you guys doing here?” Lola cried. She scooped Hope out of the cart and took her into her arms, peeking at the golden earrings Miles was scrambling to cover up.

“What are you doing here?” Frankie said.

“We kind of... um...” Lola said, turning to Esme.

Esme played around with her French braid. “We... may have procrastinated our holiday shopping a little this year.”

“Don’t tell me you both waited too!” Lola said.

“Miles? Frankie?”

They all spun around and saw Hunter holding a bunch of shopping bags, looking like he was about to drop half of them. “What are you guys—”

“Uncle Hunter’s here too!” Hope squealed, clapping her hands.

“The store will be closing in 20 minutes... closing in 20 minutes...” the intercom blared.

The group all just stared blankly at each other for a second. Then, Lola burst into giggles and the rest of them started cracking up too. “Meet at the food court in 20?” Miles said.

Lola just smiled. “As long as you promise to be surprised on Christmas morning still.”


End file.
